What We Didn't Do
by DarkHorseBlueSky
Summary: She sees twenty peasant girls inside a nobleman's house. Fifteen blade-happy bandits wait for her to return with a prince. Her family haunts her from the back of her mind. One solemn shadow watches her from behind a mop of messy raven hair. Meanwhile, she's just trying to decide which of her options will provide her with more food. A thief's story, in four chapters.
1. How Far We've Come

**Author's Note:**

**This was originally meant to be a one-shot, but it just…grew, I guess. I still don't know what it is, or what I did here, or why. If you can figure out a method to the madness that I have yet to translate for myself, please tell me.**

**As you can see, I also drew some crappy cover art. Sorry for the bad lighting; my scanner hates me.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Princess Academy. It belongs to Shannon Hale, not me.**

**Title from a quote by Pittacus Lore.**

**Lyrics from 'How Far We've Come' by Matchbox Twenty.**

* * *

**What We Didn't Do**

* * *

_Waking up at the start_

_of the end of the world_

_But it's feeling just like every other morning before_

_Now I wonder what my life is gonna mean_

_if it's gone_

* * *

If I had a chance to do this all over again, I would not have chosen this life. Then again, I didn't exactly have a choice.

So were my thoughts as I stumbled up a mountain with a loaf of bread stuffed inside my shirt and twenty very ticked-off bandits at my heels.

I didn't speak the language of the northern countries very well, barely enough to get by in fact, but their shouted messages were clear enough. They weren't happy. "Weren't happy" meaning "wanted to run me through with something sharp and painful".

It was this kind of thought that encouraged me to keep running.

I was faster than most of them — being skinny and small has its advantages sometimes — and soon, I'd pulled far ahead. Their shouts still echoed off the rocks and through the trees, and when I glanced back, I could barely see their tiny figures through the sparse greenery. I smirked. This was a mistake, though — glancing back meant that I was no longer focused on what was ahead, and completely missed the steep valley that I found myself tumbling down a few moments later.

Every curse I knew left my mouth as I bounced and rolled down the hill, and I even made up a few new ones in the process. It wasn't a very graceful fall and ended with me lying facedown at the bottom, moaning, winded, and bruised in quite a few unfortunate places. The bread which I had gone to such painstaking lengths to steal was completely squished.

I eventually managed to get to my feet and stumble away from the place, and after shaking my head a few times to help me figure out which way was forward, I was running again. Gravity is faster than any pair of legs and it had given me a good head start, but not good enough. My time recovering at the foot of the hill had subtracted from it somewhat.

I could hear them shouting as I ran, but soon their voices faded and I could hear them no more. Panting from the unplanned race, I slowed down, circled behind a tree, slumped to the ground, and began gnawing on my stale piece of bread.

I was surprised that it'd taken them so long to catch me. Every day since I'd started following the bandit group, which added up to about six days, I had stolen a small loaf of bread from their stockpile. It wasn't too hard either. For the majority, they were a slow and stupid group and had this nasty habit of never posting a guard at night, and if they did, it was a guard who couldn't stay awake.

But this night was a bit different. I was careless. I hadn't known that the man who guarded the men's packs was awake. His eyes were closed, yes, and his breathing even, but it seemed as if the bandits had gotten the hint and finally set a trap for me.

It had all gone smoothly until my hand, with the stolen loaf of bread in it, accidentally brushed the man's arm and his eyes flew open.

That was when I decided it would be wise to run.

I have no idea why I wanted to follow the bandits in the first place. I guess I was hungry, that was all, and I wanted a bit of fun for a few days. From what I overheard, they were traveling up Mount Eskel to kidnap a prince. Needless to say, I wanted to see that. And who knew? I was a thief. I might be able to help.

But here I was, panting like a dog and hiding behind a tree. The moon was full that night and it was surprisingly warm for late fall. This was good; I had left my winter jacket and only pair of shoes back at the small cave I had claimed as my lair. Really, it was no more a lair than a hole in the ground, but it was all I had and it was home.

I finished the last crumbs of my bread and sighed. The familiar tight feeling in my stomach was still there, only a bit lessened. Dejected, I opened my bag and looked for my small canteen of water. It was there, but almost empty. I trickled a few drops down my throat but left the rest for later — who knew when I might find a source of water again in unfamiliar territory?

I looked up at the night sky. I saw the stars scattered across the navy blue sky in all their brilliant glory, not hidden by the dust and smog of the cities. Here on the mountain, they seemed closer than ever.

Then I saw the malicious shine of moonlight on metal out of the corner of my eye, and realized that there was a very sharp blade just underneath my chin.

"Don't move," a quiet, calm voice said in the language of the northerners. It might have been described as a "not unfriendly" tone of voice had there not been a weapon ready to sever that relatively important thing that attached my head to my body. Hence, I will not describe it as such.

So I replied in the same language and same calm tone, "I wasn't planning to."

"Stand up," the voice continued, never once wavering from its calm monotone.

"You just told me not to move." If he, whoever he was (and I knew exactly who he was simply from the voice) was going to best me, I was going to make it hard for him.

"I amended my orders."

Oh. Acerbicism. If I had even the slightest twinge of doubt that this was Shade, that doubt was erased.

I must admit that the idiot bandits were not all idiots. The leader, who went by the relatively inconspicuous name of Dan, was angry, clever, and willing to go to all ends to get what he wanted. I'd seen the way he had just killed a merchant after demanding information about the princess academy. Dan wasn't particularly smart, but if I were to come face to face with him in battle, I am not sure if I would be able to escape.

Shade was almost a polar opposite of Dan but just as dangerous, if not more so. While Dan was a veteran warrior of fire, arrogance, and wrath, Shade was little more than a boy made of shadows, silence, and shards of ice. He was small, slender, quiet, and couldn't have been past twenty years of age — which would have been instant turnaways had he not been so skilled with the slim sword he wore on his back in a black sheath. He, living up to the alias the other bandits had given him, was a figure made of darkness — shaggy raven hair and forbidding black eyes; his skin was an unhealthy shade of milk white in comparison.

From eavesdropping on the bandits' conversations throughout the week, I had learned that Shade had not been a part of the outlaw group for very long. They had originally had him as a target for thievery, him being what they thought was a weary traveler with a nice-looking weapon on his person, until he had knocked out half of their number with the same sword they had wanted to steal. (This in itself was not a particularly admirable feat — nasty and sly the bandits might have been, they were sadly out of shape.) With admittedly nowhere else to go, he had joined them shortly after, and many of them had held a wary grudge against him ever since.

I did not doubt this story. Nor did I doubt Shade's abilities — small as he was, he was still bigger than me and probably stronger. And, after all, I was a thief, not a fighter.

So, with few other options, I slowly rose to my feet while being careful of the blade at my neck. I felt Shade move around the tree and, to my surprise, place his hand on my shoulder. His thin hands were callused and cold, and though I could not feel them through the battered leather of my vest, his thumb brushed the side of my neck with a kiss of ice. He said nothing, but the message was clear — _walk where I want you, do as I tell you, and do not make a sound. You might have a chance at living._

So, going blindly as he directed me, I turned around and began walking back from whence I had come, which was the bandits' camp. Neither of us said a word as he steered me through the sparse trees, which seemed almost to deceive the eye with their deep and shifting shadows in the contrast of the bright moonlight.

I busied myself by watching the sword that could take my life, and the hand that held it. It was a fine, expensive weapon, unlike the cheap ones that the other bandits carried. Also unlike the bandits' swords, it was slender and polished, more like the swords carried by the royal guard of Toscana. The hilt was wrapped in black leather and had a pommel to match the crosspiece, which if I was not mistaken was black iron. The hands that held the sword and my shoulder were thin, but strong. His palms and wrists were wrapped with coarse black strips of fabric, which most likely served to help him keep a grip on his sword.

This man likes black too much, I mused somewhat moodily as I reflected that the rest of his dirty wardrobe was also, as you might guess, black.

After a long time of our nearly blind hike through the forest, which felt like hours but was in reality a lot less, I finally caught a glimmer of orange light in the distance — firelight. So maybe I had not been so far away from Dan's idiots. I thought again of the cold hand that rested on my shoulder, and added to this. Maybe at least one of them was smarter than I gave him credit for.

And now I would pay the price for it.

It seemed to me that Shade's very presence was either usually ignored or overlooked, for when he and I entered the camp with his sword blade at my throat, every bandit jumped and whirled around with weapons raised. I must admit that I flinched, but just a little bit.

(If you expect me to describe the bandits and their states of civility and cleanliness, then you've picked the wrong narrator. Honestly, they were no cleaner or better dressed than I was, and if you think these guys were bad then you have obviously never visited Gallica and the wonderful prison in the capital city. The inmates there would make these bandits look like prim and proper noblewomen.)

Dan, easily recognizable from the rest by his distinctively broad shoulders and towering build, was the first one to recover. "Shade," he said with something of an amused smirk on his face. "I'm surprised. Nice work."

Shade did not move his sword or his hand. "She's arrogant," he said in his low, faintly accented voice. "She let her guard down. She had only these." Out of my peripheral vision, I saw him throw my satchel and my dagger to the ground. My hands flew to my hips and I realized that yes, Shade had stolen them. I hadn't even felt him take them off me. I swore, but only in my head. I didn't like being without a weapon; it made me feel vulnerable and naked.

Dan mostly ignored Shade and frowned, staring at me. "She?"

All right, I admit that I'm not the most womanly of females — my clothes concealed most of my figure, admittedly — and definitely not the type to take tea and wear dresses the size and weight of the average cow, but such a simple question was an actual blow to my pride. "Excuse me," I said sardonically, "but if you doubt my gender, feel free to check."

A wry smile twitched at the edge of the bandit leader's lips. "No my lady, I am convinced enough."

"Good," I said.

The smirk on his face started growing larger, into a hideous leer, as he stepped towards me and scanned me over. "Just a girl," he marveled. "And she managed all that trouble. I like her already."

I said nothing but I did not take my eyes off his.

(I've heard it said that locking gazes with me is about as comforting as locking gazes with a wolf.)

But Dan wasn't intimidated easily. He reached out, probably to caress my face in a way that I would definitely not tolerate, but before his fingers could come in contact with my skin, I opened my mouth and clamped my teeth over air. It was threatening enough, and Dan yanked his hand back in alarm. Shade's grip on my shoulder tightened to an almost painful degree and the finely honed edge of his sword touched against the soft skin of my neck in a clear warning. I stopped moving.

Dan gave me a withering glare. "You're right," he said, probably to Shade, "she is arrogant."

"It gets worse before my monthly messes," I told him.

He narrowed his eyes, then came dangerously close. "Listen, _girl," _he hissed, spraying spittle into my face, "and listen closely. I want nothing from you. I will do nothing for you and you're _lucky _if you make it out of here alive. How you respect me determines on how high your chances are of being released."

I raised an eyebrow and felt my lip twitch in the beginnings of a smirk, but I said nothing.

"What?" Dan snapped.

"Oh, nothing," I said lightly, almost singsong in the tone of it. "I'm just wondering what the chances are of you releasing me if I told you, say, that I know about your plans for the prince and have, oh, I don't know, a warrant from the king to find you and a promise that if I don't come back from today's 'thievery', he would know that you were somewhere in the area and would send people to wipe you out, or something like that…"

Dan's eyes were now barely slits, and I could tell that he was trying to decide whether to believe me or not. He had plenty of reasons to do both. Obviously the first of the two, my knowledge about the prince, was true, otherwise I would have never mentioned it. But the "warrant from the king" idea was a complete lie. I am a very good liar, you see, and I am familiar with other people's thought processes. There was no other probable reason for me to be following Dan's bandits (except for the improbable reason of "I wanted some food and fun" that happens to be the truth) and a paranoid man's mind would instantly be up and alert.

I could almost _see _him ticking off the three clinchers: means, motive, and opportunity. I didn't exactly look like an advisor of the king, in fact I might have seemed somewhat disadvantaged with my poor provisions and outfitting, but I could easily be a paid mercenary. Hence leading up to the second: motive. Also easy; just get me a fat purse of coins and I'd be in. Finally, opportunity — I had stayed unseen most of the time as I trailed them, so it wouldn't be unthinkable that I could leave for a time and report to a trailing sentry or a scout.

"Impossible," Dan finally spat as he turned away, sounding only half convinced. "She's a liar and a thief, and — "

"But what if I'm not?"

The entire camp went silent as sixteen bandits stared at me with wide eyes. Somehow I managed to stay completely straight-faced.

"What if I'm not lying?" I asked them again. Then I stopped and decided to switch tactics. "All right, never mind that. I knew that you might not believe that from the beginning. But consider this," and here I gave the wolfish smile that typically came with my wolfish eyes, "what are the chances of my survival if you were to find out that I will kidnap your prince for you and sell him to you for my freedom and a certain sum of money?"

"Never!" shouted a bandit before Dan could even open his mouth to reply. This man's most prominent (but definitely not the least appealing) feature was a scar stretching from the side of his mouth to his ear — he was called by the others as Dogface, for obvious reasons. "A liar and a thief! She can't kidnap the prince, not in a thousand years!"

"Yeah, well, in a thousand years I'll be dead," I told him. "Best I do it now, when I'm young and lithe."

"She has a point," a lanky bandit, who was known primarily as Bob for reasons unknown, said.

"My problem," said Dan above the mild racket that was beginning to ensue, "is not if she could do it. I know her type and I don't doubt it. My problem is whether or not we can trust her."

"Hey, I'm standing right here," I said irritably. I would have waved my arms had I not been restricted by Shade and his stupid sword. "You don't have to talk about me like I'm not within hearing range, sheesh!"

Dan looked up at the sky, as if telling some greater being, _This is my life. _He didn't seem like the religious type, though, so I will leave it "as if".

"Your answer," I continued, "is no. You have no reason to trust me and I have no reason to trust you. So, by this agreement of mutual distrust, we should have sound basis that we do not trust each other and therefore have no ground against the other. Am I making sense?"

"Not really," replied Bob.

"I understand," said Dan in a low voice. "I…don't know how your logic makes sense, but I think it's worth a try. All right, I agree."

This raised protesting voices throughout the camp until Dan raised his hand. They all went silent. "Now," he said, "we have less than a day's travel until we reach the princess academy, and that's if we're fast. I say we let the thief go when we're about three hours away, so that we're far from the danger. But — " he raised his hands again to quell the protests that were already rising " — I am not a fool. I will not let her go alone. Shade, I would like you to accompany the thief and keep her from running off before her job is finished."

Shade's grip on my shoulder had loosened and the space between the sword and my throat had widened, but at this I felt the subtle stiffening of his hands. "Yes, sir." The words sounded almost forced.

This fielded even more protests, but like clockwork, Dan's hand flew up again and silenced them all. "Good," he said. "And, since you've done a wonderful job guarding the thief so far, I would like you to guard her tonight."

Even Shade couldn't hide the sigh that slipped from his lips. I didn't feel like hiding it so I turned it into a full-blown moan.

"I'm blaming you," I told Shade, more to annoy him than anything else.

The sword blade was removed from my neck and slid back into its sheath, and Shade spun me around. I did not have to look up very far, but when I did, I met his gaze and found myself trapped in the depths of his pitch black eyes.

"Just remember, thief," he said coolly, "you were the one to strike first."

And so my name, to the bandit group and for the duration of my time working for them, became Thief.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**If you are going to follow and/or favorite, please tell me why. I don't like it when people follow and/or favorite me and/or my stories without explaining why they have done so and why, exactly, they like/hate me and/or my story. So please, use that pretty little box/button thing that says "review". Show me your explanations/flames/rants/spam.**

**Go ahead. Seriously, I'm listening.**


	2. Babel

**Here is where I reply to reviews.**

**koryandrs: To be honest, the book's not as actiony-angsty as this…thing…whatever it is…but thanks for being here for me anyway. I appreciate it.**

**And that's it.**

**I feel as if this fandom is dead…**

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own PA.**

**Lyrics from 'Babel' by Mumford and Sons.**

* * *

_Press my nose up to the glass around your heart_

_I should've known I was weaker from the start_

_You'll build your walls and I will play my bloody part_

_To tear, tear them down_

_Well, I'm gonna tear, tear them down_

* * *

Sometime during the night, which was spent on the ground on the outskirts of the bandit camp, I tried to roll over onto my side. I was awakened by a tug on my leg and, irritated, I sat up and examined it. Someone had tied a rope around my bare ankle and the other end was fastened around the wrist of none other than the infernally annoying Shade, who was sleeping next to me (not in _that _way, by gods — we were both still fully clothed and a good foot away from each other!).

I picked up a pine needle from the ground and poked his ear. Nothing happened for a few seconds until, without opening his eyes, he said, "What?"

"I have to go," I told him.

"Go where?" He did not yet open his eyes.

I looked up at the dark sky. "To _go._"

"Just wait until morning."

"I can't."

"That's too bad, then."

I sighed. "Okay. I didn't think you'd appreciate me going here with us in this arrangement, but…"

He said nothing. I think he sensed that I was just trying to annoy him.

So, feeling somewhat defeated, I lay back down and fell asleep again.

* * *

Morning was no better. This time I really had to go, and Shade had had strict orders from Dan to not let me out of his sight. We worked it out, though — he gave me a longer rope and allowed me to go behind a cluster of trees and shrubs.

"If Dan told you," I told him irritably as we walked back to camp, "that I have to wear a rope until he feels like I'm independent enough to walk around without a leash, then I'm afraid that kidnapping a prince is going to be extremely difficult for both of us."

"That's not my problem," he replied without even looking down at me.

He then stopped and began to untie the rope around his wrist. "What are you doing?" I asked, more to irritate him than anything else.

He didn't reply, only dragged me over to a pine tree and began fastening it around a low branch.

"Hey — wait a second!" He ignored me entirely and began walking away. I was furious now. "You get back here right now!"

He waved to me as he strode towards the fire in the center of the camp, where the bandits were dishing out breakfast.

Irritated, I plunked (really, that's the only word for it) down on the ground and folded my arms. "YOU BETTER GET ME SOMETHING TO EAT TOO!" I screamed, once again more to be annoying than anything. I take pride in being as annoying as I can.

There was a burst of laughter from the central camp. "Hey, Shade," I heard one of the men say, "your wife wants something to eat."

"Shut up," I heard Shade reply over the snickering of other bandits.

He did come back with food for me, though. Only a small bread roll, an apple probably stolen from the apple tree groves they had passed through further down the mountain, and a metal cup containing water drawn right from a nearby stream, but it was good fare considering my circumstances and no more or less than the other bandits.

That was when, halfway through my apple, that I realized Shade had been carrying only _one _meal.

He sat next to me now with his legs crossed and head down, saying nothing and doing nothing except looking at his hands. I felt something unfamiliar bite down on my heart as I looked down at the tin cup and the half-eaten apple in my hands, and remembered the roll that I had so selfishly devoured.

"Hey," I said, trying to sound coolly aloof yet mildly considerate at the same time (_not _an easy task). "Want some?" Awkwardly, I held out the apple and the cup.

He glanced up at me and for a frozen second, we locked gazes. Then he broke the contact and focused back down at his hands. "No thank you. I'm not hungry."

So I took back the apple and nudged him with the cup of water. It was probably his, anyway — I couldn't think that any of the other bandits would have given up their cup to make sure that a thieving, shoeless rat would have something to drink. Looking up somewhat shyly, Shade accepted the cup, whispered an awkward "Thank you" and then flashed me…was it a smile?

I'd like to believe that it was.

After breakfast, the bandits packed up and we began our hike up the mountain. It was a nice day if not a bit chilly, but the mountain's breeze felt good on my face. Had there not been a rope around my ankle and a swordsman at my side, it would have been the perfect day to run. I have always loved to run. It makes me feel free. Burdenless, perhaps — like my past had never happened. Like I was not a thief, but was meant to fly.

The sparse trees began to thin, and soon they were gone altogether. There was no longer the ground of leaves and dirt under my bare feet, but rather dust and sharp rocks. I was not used to mountain hikes, but I grit my teeth and kept moving. The problem wasn't traction or balance or anything — I had long since mastered moving shoeless — but the feeling of rough pebbles on the toughened soles of my feet was irritating not to mention somewhat painful.

The sun had passed its zenith by the time Dan called for us to stop. An advance scout had found a cave, an old quarry probably, and Dan decided that it was time to halt and rest. Sixteen men and one girl filed into the abandoned mine shaft, which was unusually wide and had more than enough space for all of us.

"What do they mine here?" I inquired of no one in particular.

"Linder," replied a bandit named Onor. "Royals love it. Only they're allowed to have it in their castles, and no one knows why. Expensive stuff, but heavy."

"Too heavy to steal?" I guessed.

"Yeah," said Onor. "Thing is, even if it wasn't, the Eskel people are too…" He searched for a word.

"Big," said Shade. I must admit that I jumped a little bit. I'd almost forgotten he was there.

"Exactly," said Onor gruffly, and he turned away to shake some pebbles out of his boot. No one told me what they meant by that.

Dan approached Shade and me just as he was having his turn at the water pump to drink. I'd gotten some already — "ladies first", they had said mockingly — but it was warm and tasted like rust. I knew that I was just the taste tester, the one that made sure the water was safe to drink. But I had been thirsty, so I drank it anyway.

"Hey," Dan said. "You two, get ready. You'll have to leave soon."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

In response, Dan tossed me my bag and handed me a very familiar dagger. I stared at him.

"Cut the rope," the bandit leader said to me. "You can't do your job tied up, can you?" Shade opened his mouth to protest, but Dan beat him to it. "If worse comes to worst, you have your sword. Use it." He stopped, then smiled slyly. "Anyway, I don't think she'd be all too willing to run away anyway…not if she was running away from this."

He reached into his tunic and pulled out a small leather pouch. It made a nice clinking sound as it dangled from his hands. My eyebrows shot up. It was a heavy bag, I could tell.

"Feel free to check it," Dan said, holding it out to me.

Almost reverently, I took the pouch and opened it. Inside were gold coins, and a lot of them, maybe twenty, thirty possibly. I dug out one from the bottom, put it between my teeth, and bit down — I recognized the softness immediately. This was real gold.

I put the coin back and returned the pouch to Dan. "I'm in," I told him with a smile, and bent down to cut off the rope around my ankle.

* * *

We set off shortly after, still at each other's side. Force of habit, I suppose. According to the map that Shade looked at once and never looked at again, we had six miles of winding roads to travel until we reached the "princess academy".

I'd settled for a begrudging indifference for my guard, and he still pretended I wasn't there. But, as we walked along the narrow mountain road, I realized that I found the silence awkward. I'd been alone for most of my life and the fact that it'd been maybe four years since I'd had someone to really talk to didn't help, so I didn't exactly know what to do.

"So what do you know?" I asked him.

He glanced down at me. I couldn't get over the fact that he was a good six inches taller than me. "About what?" It was annoying how his voice never seemed to show any emotion. I'm usually good at reading people, and it irritated me that I couldn't for him.

"You know," I said, "stealing. What do you know?"

He was quiet as he looked ahead and never stopped his pace. "I'd like to know," he replied, "what I don't know and you do."

I stopped walking and folded my arms. "Is that a challenge?"

He also stopped. "If you like," he said without turning around.

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" Two could play at this game of mystery and indifference. "Then enlighten me, _Shade. _Why would you think that?"

"First of all," he said, turning on his heel and facing me with a scowl, "you're a girl too arrogant for her own good. Second of all, I am your elder and am much more experienced than you could dream."

So he _was_ challenging me. "You don't know who you're talking to," I said, ice in my words. "How old do you think I am, exactly?"

"You can't be older than sixteen."

"I am _nineteen, _and don't you forget it," I said, straightening up to my full height, which still wasn't much. "I'd bet that you aren't past your teens."

Shade gave me what might have been considered a smirk. "Twenty-three."

That I had not expected, but I wouldn't let him know that. I raised my eyebrow again (an action that I regard as the perfect one for telling a person _I am not impressed_). "Oh, then, I'm sorry. I bow to your wisdom, o mighty twenty-three-year-old." I mock-curtsied, which was harder than I thought it would be because I have never learned how to curtsy and hence did not know how.

He rolled his eyes, turned away, and continued walking the direction we were supposed to be traveling.

"Hey!" I said indignantly. "Don't just walk away from me like that!"

He raised his hand and waved to me again, without stopping his pace. I cursed him, then jogged to catch up.

"Just remember, Thief," said Shade when I said nothing to him, "you _were _the one to strike first."

I was too embarrassed to shoot back or attempt at conversation again, so I punched him on the shoulder and said nothing more.

* * *

"Here," he said. "We camp here."

Confused, I stepped out. It seemed like some sort of clearing, a separate place of ground from the rest of the mountain. Then realized that it was a cliff, from which I could look down and see a large stone house on the edge of a lower cliff. Beyond the house was all of Danland.

Several good-sized boulders, pushed together like a wall, separated me and the void below our cliff, but the knowledge of such a void below alarmed me. I could almost see myself falling over the edge, my arms and legs flailing.

A scream dribbled down the air. It was not my scream, and at the same time, it was. It was the scream of a child.

The cliff turned into a castle, the falling girl split into three, then they turned into a falling man, a woman, and a boy…

_Father!_

_ Mother!_

_ Will!_

Something like a shriek left my lips at that moment. Shaking in terror, I scrambled away from the boulder wall and in the process crashed into Shade, sending us both tumbling. I ended up on top of him in a very suggestive position, and after staring at each other strangely, we hastily got away from each other.

I tried to get as far away from the cliff edge as I could while still being on the cliff, then sat down and pulled my legs close to my chest. It was nice to have ground below me and I guess I just wanted to be as close to it as possible.

"You're scared of heights," Shade deadpanned.

My mouth dry, I nodded and rubbed my arms. The flickering image of my family had done nothing to console me.

He frowned, then made his way towards the blockaded edge and pounded his fist against the smallest boulder, which was easily up to his waist. It didn't move. He leaned against the largest one, which was taller than he was. This one did not move either. He pushed against the others with his booted foot. None of them budged an inch.

He turned back to me. "See? They don't move. You're safe."

I nodded quickly, but I didn't move. I felt safe here, but not by the boulders and _the edge._ I could feel and see the subtle slope down from my safe place to where Shade stood.

He sighed and rubbed his temples, exasperated. Clearly reluctantly, he made his way towards me and knelt next to me. I stared at him, wide-eyed and silent. Then, to my surprise, Shade held out his hand to me. Tentatively, I took it and stood as he did, and steeled myself as I followed him closer…to the boulder wall and the cliff edge. I stopped about five feet away and refused to move.

"Come on," Shade said. "It's fine. You're safe, Mari — " He cut himself off before he could finish the last word — a name?

I shook my head. I _wouldn't _do it because I _couldn't._

He sighed again, then took my hand in both of his. His fingers were unsettlingly cold, but somehow comforting. Same were his eyes — difficult to meet as he looked straight at me, but with an alien kind of reassurance buried somewhere in their depths.

"Listen to me," he said firmly. "I am not going to let you fall."

"Are you going to push me, then?" My voice didn't sound as stable as I would have liked them to. But the words obviously hit home. Shade blinked, something I hadn't even seen before now.

"No," he finally replied. "I promise you, I will not let you go over that edge as long as I have anything to do about it."

I didn't want to trust him but at the same time, I did. I hated my fear and I hated myself for _remembering,_ but I knew that the only way I could defeat the fear was by facing it.

I didn't yet know how I could defeat the memories, but it was all I could do to take one step at a time.

As this thought resounded, I found myself lifting my feet and stepping closer towards the boulder wall that separated me from the void. Shade held my hand until I wriggled out and grabbed his whole arm. I did not trust my legs. They shook too much to be reliable.

And then, there I was. Standing in the light of the setting sun and the molten gold sky, looking down at the academy and then at Danland beyond. It was more beautiful than I could ever describe. Beautiful enough to push back the fear, to wipe away the worry and the memories and the pain…

The fall breeze whipped my hair and my clothes behind me and brushed by my face, bringing a small, inadvertent smile. Slowly and gingerly, I let go of Shade and touched the boulder in front of me, finally leaning against it and leaning out. It was easily fifty feet down, maybe more, but I didn't care. I was safe. I was free, I could run, I could fly. I was not afraid.

For the first time in years, a real laugh escaped my lips.

Then I remembered the academy below me, and the princesses inside who were probably wondering where that laugh had come from. I could feel the blood rising to my cheeks as I shrank down behind the boulder. "Sorry," I whispered to Shade, who was still standing. His skin was a nice shade of olive in the amber sunlight.

He frowned. "Why?"

"I forgot," I told him. Then I sighed. "If they heard and know we're here now, it's my fault."

He was quiet for a long time. "No," he finally said. "I wouldn't think they could hear you at all. And it's not like they have an army ready at the house; the prince hasn't even arrived."

"What?"

He nodded. "You can see their caravans from here. They've camped over by that ridge."

My courage had fled, and I did not dare stand up to see where he was pointing. I just nodded and looked down at my dirty feet.

"What happened?"

I looked up at him. "What?"

He gestured towards the academy below us. "That," he replied. "When you screamed."

I returned to looking at my toes.

Shade coughed — another sign of his utter _humanness_ that almost surprised me. "You…don't have to tell me. I can't think of any reasons you'd trust _me, _anyway."

I was going to say something snarky like "Good, because I wasn't going to anyway" until I recognized the bitterness inflected in the words. It was a vulnerable kind of bitterness. It made me feel almost sick.

"I had a life once," I whispered.

Shade looked up.

"And a name, and a family, and a home. Then…it was all taken away."

He was silent. Then he said two words, a name:

"Dante Laterza."

I looked up at him. He was gazing out at the sunset, his face set like stone.

"Bridget D'Arcy."

It was the first time I'd said my real name in ten years.

It was worth it to repay his small gift.

* * *

**Reviews are love...**


	3. Nothing Left To Say

**This was a really tough chapter to write, not to mention the longest in the story. I wrote the geography of the cliffs and the layout of the princess academy as I see it in my mind, so sorry if it doesn't really make much sense. Not to mention all the suspensy-action and Thief's almost-total **_**losing it…**_**but you can tell me how I did with that when we get there.**

**ladybug114: Thank you! I've always liked writing first-person narrative, but for some reason this writing style just slipped in better than the others I've tried. I don't know if you can tell the difference, but…meh.  
No, I don't really have many suggestions…this is the sixteenth fic written for the entire fandom…**

**rachealninja10: Yes. Hey, at least you reviewed.**

**chocykitty: No guilt on you, dear. It's fine. :)**

* * *

**Disclaimer: Still don't own PA.**

**Lyrics from 'Nothing Left To Say' by Imagine Dragons.**

* * *

_Who knows how long I've been awake now?_

_The shadows on my wall don't sleep_

_They keep calling me, beckoning…_

_Who knows what's right?_

_The lines keep getting thinner_

* * *

I awoke to the sound of a distant closing door and faraway voices. Blinding light greeted me and it took me a few moments to recover before I could see clearly, and I stood up. Someone had put their battered black jacket over me as I slept, and the only doubts I had as to whom came from the question of _why._

Shade knelt at the boulder wall, almost like he was praying. But his head stayed above the ridge and I knew he was watching something. I knew better than to speak, and so stayed silent as I knelt next to him and held out his jacket to him. He accepted it without a sound, then gestured down to the princess academy.

With some willpower, I forced my gaze down into the infernally steep valley and towards the academy. Several girls, younger but probably larger than me, lingered around outside, chatting or…dancing? They were _dancing._

"Those are the princesses," Shade said quietly.

But they didn't look like princesses. They wore leggings and tunics, similar to mine if not a good deal cleaner and newer. They wore their hair in braids or buns, not loose, like I had seen on girls and women of Danland. (I'd chosen neither — I never let my hair grow past the nape of my neck. Long hair is just a disadvantage when your one purpose of life is to survive.)

We watched them for gods knew how long. I spotted a girl who looked about my size and had the same color hair — brown like dirt, except that hers was pinned into a long braid. Not many of the girls were dark-haired or small. They were Eskelites, after all.

Then I spotted, out of the corner of my eye, a cloud of dust. My eyes snapped over to the mountain pass and instantly homed in on a wagon, a Danlander's wagon. Following it was another wagon, and another, and another — there had to be at least thirty in all, each manned by Danlanders in fine livery.

"So many people," I heard one of the girls from below say, maybe a bit too loud.

"So much to steal," I said in a much quieter voice.

Then, after the first fifteen wagons and an impressive-looking platoon of armed men in the uniform of the royal guard, I saw a gilded carriage pulled by four horses that also seemed to glisten of gold and I instantly knew. There was the prince. I glanced at Shade, unsure of what to do. He lifted his hand and shrank lower behind the rock, a clear signal to stay put and stay down. I'd blend right in — my clothes, which had seemingly lost all color over the years, and my dusty hair were all the same color as the rocks. Shade, however, was in greater danger of being spotted; he in his black clothes, as dirty as they and he were, would stand out like a beacon among the gray rocks and blue sky.

Down by the princess academy, the princesses were grouped together and gaping at the wagons as they passed. Apparently they weren't used to this kind of fanfare, because they didn't seem to know what to do. As the prince's carriage passed, one of the girls, the small girl with the brown braid, waved. One of the others hit her playfully.

The academy door burst open and a dark-haired woman in a dress stormed out, her hands all a-flutter as she barked orders to the princesses to get inside. They obeyed, scurrying to the woman's orders. As the people from the wagons began to set up tents and unload their bulky burdens by the back of the academy, I saw the faces of girls peeking out of the windows to watch.

I kept my eyes mainly on the prince's golden carriage, though — eventually I saw him get out and, with about twenty armed guards surrounding him, enter the academy through one of the back doors. So he was staying inside. I'd figured as much.

I reported my findings to Shade in whispers, and for a while he sat and thought. "We'll have to find a way inside," he replied finally, and somewhat obviously if I must admit. "Maybe disguise ourselves as servants or soldiers — "

"Fat chance of that," I said grimly. Then I did a double take. "Wait a second, did you just say _we?"_

"Of course," he deadpanned. "I'm coming with."

I stared at him. He stared back.

"Okay," I said, a bit breathlessly. "Um...anyway. I don't think we could disguise ourselves. The risk's too high in a group that small. They wouldn't recognize us and might ask questions."

"Then it's the old-fashioned way, I suppose," he said.

"The old-fashioned way," I repeated, not getting it. Then, when I did get it, I smiled. "Ah. I see. Hands-on work today."

"Tonight," he corrected.

I glanced towards the west horizon and saw the clouds, quickly moving closer. The light of the moon would be completely blocked out if we were lucky.

"Yes," I said. "Tonight would be better."

* * *

I waited in the darkness and chewed an apple. It was our last apple. Shade and I had decided that, if we got a chance, we'd steal the prince _and _some more food.

We weren't so lucky with the moonlight, but I suppose it was for the best. I knew _I _didn't have perfect night vision, so if I'd be able to see in near-total darkness I had no idea. I knew there'd be torches and candles or something, but still. I actually thought the light factor was best it could've been, with tiny patchy clouds scattered across the sky and giving a dappled appearance to the otherwise steady moonlight. It was pretty, yes, but it would also provide, to a certain extent, cover and barely enough light to see by.

Shade crouched at the boulder wall, still as a stone. Waiting, watching. The night breeze ruffled his thick hair like a raven's feathers as it soared through the sky.

Then he turned and whispered one word:

"Now."

I stood up, double-checked that I had everything, and nodded to him.

He also stood, and together, we sped off as silently as we could into the night.

* * *

It would be easiest, we decided, to sneak in by way of skirting around the camp and through a window, or something. In any case, we'd have to tackle the outside sentries first, which didn't seem like too hard a task when I saw them. They were tired and their torches had burned down to little more than a glowing ember on a stick.

There were two of them standing at the entrance (or exit, depending on how you look at it) of the mountain pass, and they looked the sleepiest of all. One of them let out a yawn just as Shade and I watched. We'd come down the cliff by way of a small footpath and now hid behind a conveniently placed boulder on the side of the pass. We kept the hoods of our jackets up.

I had no idea who would be the better disguised — I suppose at the moment it would be me, as I'd just blend right in with the rocks. But once we got into the academy, it would probably be Shade in his black clothes. No, forgive me for my blunder, not black. He'd explained to me that he didn't wear _black, _but rather a very, very dark gray. Black would be too dark and would stand out against shadows. This I had not known. Apparently he did have some things I didn't know about.

He crouched next to me now, watching the sentries carefully. He seemed to have an uncanny sense of perfect timing with things like this; a timing that had no rhyme or reason as far as I could tell. He motioned to me, and we crept out.

We had already decided that we would split up. He would skirt the temporary camp on the side nearest the second cliff's edge for my sake, and would meet me around the back of the academy. I would be pressed up against the wall of the higher cliff on the other side.

So as Shade stayed near the relative safety of the boulder, I crept out and across the mountain pass, right behind the left-side sentry. They'd found it a better idea to face the academy, not the pass, so their backs were towards us.

Without a sound, I slipped behind the sentry and pressed myself against the cliff wall.

The wall was at a perfect angle (which is to say: no angle at all) to the sentries, so I was almost next to them yet in front of them at the same time. In front of me were about three-dozen sleeping people. Now I worried for Shade, though — he would be in direct view of the sentries if they turned their heads at the wrong time. For an immeasurable time, I held my breath and waited for him to slip out from his hiding place.

Then I saw him. His movements were fluid and almost leisurely, and I could almost believe he was a shadow himself.

Then, just as he broke out into the open and next to the cliff, I saw him step over the edge and vanish.

Had I not trained myself, I would have gasped aloud, or cried out. But a thief never makes noise on accident and all I did was bite my tongue as I tried to deny what my eyes had just seen. Shade — he couldn't have —

Then I saw the top of a shaggy head rise above the edge, and saw it nod once.

I remembered something from the view above — the cliff on which the academy sat was not just a sheer cliff dropping off the edge. Shade had pointed out a ledge running along the side, probably about three feet lower than the actual cliff surface. He'd seen two girls sitting on this outcropping the other day, which was why he'd told me.

Apparently it had been part of the plan, and he would use it to stay hidden.

I rolled my eyes and tried to relax myself, but I was as tense as a coiled spring as I continued on my way. This was not a good thing — I needed to be as flexible and loose as possible in order to take unseen moving to my highest capabilities. See, the dappled sky worked in my favor — the clouds' shadows provided the perfect cover. Matching my movements with the movements of the shadows was almost second nature to me.

My problem was I was too tense. I'd had more than my share of experience in stealing from much more defended places than this, but for some reason I was exceptionally nervous. Maybe it was the shock of Shade's "fall" off the cliff, or maybe the prospect that I wasn't stealing an object, but rather, a person.

_Well,_ my father might have said, _what's the difference?_

_Objects,_ my mother might have replied, _don't make noise._

The memories of my parents did not comfort me. I promptly told them to shut up and go away.

They did. For now.

I realized that I had been moving almost automatically, and that now I was directly across from the princess academy and at the edge of the camp. Darting out into the open would mean exposing myself to the sentries by the pass entrance and to the sentries I saw guarding the front doors less than ten meters away. Thankfully, I wouldn't be in the open. There were plenty of wagons near the edge of the camp.

It was a grueling trip, trying to make the least visible movement as possible, but the night was relatively dark and it wasn't impossible. The last wagon, though, was a good eight feet from the shelter of the academy's shadow. So I picked up a pebble and hurled it towards the cliff edge.

It bounced on the ground and skittered off the edge with more noise than I'd wanted. One of the sentries made a noise like a sleepy cow and looked in that direction, and the other one gripped his spear. While they examined the source of the noise, I crawled out. Once again, the trip was grueling — I don't like to crawl on rocky ground; who would? — but I made it.

_Too easy,_ I thought.

I heard my father, mother, and brother chuckling. No, not laughing. Chuckling. And if it was a laugh, it was that evil, uncontrollable laugh they laughed when one of them had another impulse to steal the crown off some fat king's head. Seriously, sometimes I wonder about the sanity of my family.

I told them that they were being distracting and that if they didn't shut up, I might just join them before my time.

There were no guards on the side of the house, but before I turned the corner, I loosened my dagger in its sheath, just in case. Then, cautiously, I got down onto my hands and knees and peered around the corner.

Shade stood not two feet away, leaning against the wall and staring at me. I tried not to acknowledge that he was mocking my eyebrow-raising.

_You're late, _he mouthed.

_My dead family wouldn't get out of my head, _I mouthed back.

He stared at me ever more, then reached out his hand to help me up. Once we were both on our feet, I saw the back entrance and noticed the two sentries. They might have been sleeping, with their spears lying idly on the ground next to them and their heads slumped forward, but I knew that wasn't the case.

_Unlocked? _I mouthed to Shade, pointing to the door.

He shook his head.

I shrugged and reached into my pocket. I'd left my bag up on the cliff — I didn't want it to weigh me down if certain circumstances occurred and it was time for me to get a new one anyway, so everything was in my pockets now. I found the small leather wallet that contained my lock picks, and promptly got to work.

Soon the door was open, and we stepped into what was obviously a kitchen. I grinned as I saw a half-empty wine bottle sitting idly on a counter, probably missed in the cleanup that night. Hastily, I snatched it and went back outside. Still holding the door open, Shade frowned. His face lit with a nearly maniacal grin when he realized what I was doing. I nodded in confirmation.

I somehow knew that whatever Shade had done to them, they wouldn't wake up for a very long time. So, to deflect suspicion from us, I took off their helmets, poured a bit of wine on their faces, shirts, and hands, and placed the now-totally-empty bottle on the ground between them. They looked like the kind of men who might get drunk anyway.

_Let's go, _I mouthed to Shade once the job was done.

He glanced down at my feet. I frowned and looked down at them. What was wrong with them?

In response to my silent question, my partner in crime handed me a dishrag.

I'm pretty sure I was blushing as I wiped as much of the dirt off my feet as possible. I'd totally forgotten. Usually I was pretty good with that sort of stuff, because dust on feet could leave tracks on smooth floors, but I guess tonight I'd just forgotten.

I was tempted to nick a few things to eat as we made our way through the kitchen, but I knew better. Prince first, then food. Because if we got the prince now, we'd be back to the bandits before we could get hungry again.

A quick peek through the door's small window told us that the coast was clear, and we slipped out into the corridor. It was very dimly lit, with only a few candles here and there, and completely empty save two guards at a door further down the hallway. Upon closer inspection, we found that though the guards were awake and alert, the doors were open and revealed a kind of dining hall. It was a little better lit, and by the light we could see a larger doorway at the far end.

_That's it,_ I knew. I didn't know how.

I didn't think I'd be able to spin the "drunken guards" tactic twice in one building, and I couldn't think of any way we'd be able to get past them without being seen. I couldn't kill them — well, with both Shade and me here we in theory _could, _but that wasn't exactly an option. I didn't appreciate blood and if someone found them before our job was done, we'd be in trouble.

Then I had a thought. If that was a dining hall, it had to have some link to the kitchen, didn't it?

Shade followed me like…well, a shadow, I guess, as I returned to the kitchen. Sure enough, there was a door that opened to a servants' hallway, and, inevitably, the dining hall.

Upon peeking out of the small window in the door, though, I discovered an obvious problem. Illuminated by the meager candlelight, a dozen guards stood stoically in front of the entrance of the corridor that probably led to the prince's chambers.

Great. Just great.

Putting my hands over my mouth to staunch the sigh that leaked out, I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes. We'd come so far and now I couldn't think. Gods, what had my parents taught me? Why couldn't I remember what I'd learned?

I decided to go back to the beginning and ask the basic questions. _Why _couldn't I get past this and get the prince? Well, for one, there were too many guards watching. In normal circumstances, I would just knock them out, but not at this number. Too many, and they'd raise an alarm before I could finish. In hypothesis, I could abandon this approach altogether and try something different — my parents had stolen the crown of some long-dead king from the royal archives in Rilamark by removing a part of the roof and lowering my brother down on a rope —

_My brother…Rilamark…my parents…the roof…_

_ The looks on their faces as they slipped…_

_ My scream…_

_ No!_

A hand clamped over my mouth. I vaguely realized that I had gasped.

"What's that?" a voice from the dining hall said. "Who's there?"

Shade swore under his breath and yanked me up, giving me the death glare. The message was clear as a church bell.

We ran.

* * *

Gods knew how long later I sat trembling on a small rock ledge two hundred feet off the ground, my arms wrapped around Shade like he was my lifeline. He was completely still, save the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. I tried my hardest not to make a sound.

I'd been too bewildered to even resist when Shade pulled me outside and dragged me down the ledge jutting out from the cliff. I was too terrified now to even move — I remembered the other edge, the fall, the only loves of my life and the way they had died. I did not yet know why they came back now, and only now, to haunt me.

"It's all right," a voice whispered in my ear. "You're safe, Mari — I mean, er…" He stopped. There it was again. The first two syllables of what was possibly a name. "It's all right."

My eyes were shut tight to keep the tears from falling, but I didn't need to see him to know who had spoken. "I'm sorry," I choked as quietly as I could manage. _I'm sorry for messing up the mission, I'm sorry for failing, I'm sorry for breaking down, I'm sorry for putting your life in danger, I'm sorry for even appearing in your life at all, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…_

"It's fine," he said shortly, and said no more.

* * *

I do not know how long we huddled in our bundle of rags, dirt, and unspoken words.

But I can confirm, from lots of personal experience among which this one episode was prominent, a myth dismissed by those who aren't like me. A sixth sense. Can one really tell when someone is watching them?

My answer is yes. When you've lived your whole life trying not to be seen, the feeling of someone watching you becomes like a lit match in a dark room.

Still shaking from the terror of the void barely three feet away from _my _feet, I managed to crane my head around and look up. I had not known that there was a window on the second floor of the academy that would allow the occupant a direct view of us.

He was the prince, he was robed in blue silk, he was looking right at us, and he was my brother.

I think I almost screamed again, but Shade saw it coming and put his hand over my mouth before I could. The resemblance…the resemblance between Will and the prince…it was so terrifying that I couldn't think clearly. My sanity, I felt, was wearing thin, and soon, I feared, it would break. I couldn't understand it. Why, why, why? If I was ever to go through post-traumatic stress, why must it be now? Why, after ten years?

"Don't move," Shade whispered, staring up at the boy we had just tried to kidnap.

The prince glanced at Shade, but then fixed his gaze back on me. Maybe it was the terror in my wide eyes that drew him back, the way I looked at him as if he was a long-dead man revived…in a way he kind of was. It was a foolish thought, though. Steffan Sabetson was the first child of Danland's king and queen. William D'Arcy was the first child of Hibernia's two greatest thieves. There was a difference, I reminded myself.

But…gods, those kind eyes, the scattering of freckles across his straight nose, the way his dark hair sprang up every which way…

It was useless to fantasize, but I pretended that maybe, the prince had had a little sister. A sister who he loved, a sister who had died, a sister who looked like me. A sister with short, messy dark hair, eyes the color of the coffee that his mother adored, a smile that he always said transformed her face whenever it broke free.

Maybe he did.

Because, instead of calling for a guard, the prince lifted his hand to his mouth, pressed his index finger to his smiling lips, and lowered his head.

I nodded quickly in reply, then glanced at Shade. The message on his face was clear. This was no longer a mission. This was survival.

_Let's get out of here._

He helped me stay down and as close to the cliff wall as possible, to avoid being seen by anyone else and to keep me far from the cliff edge. I kept my death grip on him, though sometimes I had to loosen it because he quietly complained that it was making it very hard to breathe.

Before we traveled too far to see it clearly, though, I dared turn my head and glance back at the prince's window. He still stood there, just watching. Not calling for guards. Just watching. I could see in those beautiful blue eyes that he _knew _what we were there for. And yet he only stood and watched.

Without saying a word aloud, I raised my hand in farewell.

* * *

The ledge stopped about at the same place the entrance to the mountain pass began, but it was precarious and layered with fissures. It would have been easy for one person to hop over, but for two people, one of them practically carrying the other? I did not know.

Shade looked at the sentry (still unaware of our presence), at me, and the rotten area of ground. _You'll have to try, _he mouthed to me.

I took in a shaky breath, trying to make it as quiet as I could. _I can't, _I told him.

_It should hold your weight._

_ I can't, _I protested.

He hesitated, then nodded. _We go together, then._

He held out his hand, and with both of mine, I grasped it. Gingerly, Shade placed his feet on the fissured, cracked rock. It made no noise, but shifted a tiny bit. But Shade did not falter, only crept closer towards the furthest edge, where it was solidest. Fear began to bite at me as I followed his lead and put my bare feet on unsteady rock.

Fear took over when I heard a heart-stopping but deceptively quiet _crack, _and felt the rock fall out from underneath my feet.

I did not scream. In fact, I could do nothing at all except dangle, helplessly, by the grip Shade had on my hand and I had on his.

_ Dangling. Like my family before they fell._

My arm felt like it was being pulled out of its socket but I _would not let go. _I could feel the trembling of Shade's hand around mine and knew that even if I had wanted to let go, he wouldn't have let me.

The world was a blur of black, gray, blue, and blood red. Something seemed to be pounding at the inside of my skull; I think a piece of rock had struck a grazing blow to my forehead as I fell. It was all I could do to jerk my head up and see that I had not fallen alone. Shade kept us both from falling all the way — he held on to the cliff edge with just his fingers. I saw the strain on his face and remembered that he was left-handed. He wasn't as strong with his right hand.

A figure materialized above us, standing on solid ground. The sentry, I realized. Then, another. The other sentry. The first one threw a rope down to me, a rope with a knot on the end so I could hold on. But I was afraid. I did not want to let go of Shade.

"You have to let go, Bridget," he hissed through gritted teeth when I looked up at him.

_Gods, no._

_ "You have to let go, Bridget. You can't hold us forever."_

_ "I love you, my daughter."_

_ "Let go!"_

Desperate, I reached with my free hand grabbed the rope, and let go of Shade.

I was dangling again, and I didn't like it at all. But before I knew it, I was on solid ground again, curled up in a ball on the rock surface, shivering, and crying. I was crying. My eyes had almost forgotten how.

Arms encircled me, two arms that I was getting creepily used to. "She's scared of heights," a voice I knew said.

"Ah," replied a voice I didn't know. "I see. But what I _don't_ see," and here the voice turned darker and colder, "is why you are up here in the first place." There were four sentries present, I later learned. The two guarding the mountain pass, and the two who had been guarding the front door.

Shade hesitated, then he bowed his head and pulled me closer. His hair tickled my cheek as I lay my head on his shoulder, still trembling. Like a helpless child I listened to the rise and fall of his smooth low voice as he made up some story about us being siblings from the Eskel village traveling here on a dare, and explaining to them that I wasn't attending the academy because of a mental disorder — not a hard angle to play, what with me being so shaken from looking my worst fear right in the eye.

The most amazing thing was, they believed it and complied when Shade offered them a few gold coins in return for their silence, on the claim that if our father found out about our absence he'd "tan our hides". And after I'd calmed myself enough, they let us go back our way without pressing on care that we probably needed but didn't want.

Or at least, back what they thought was our way.

When we were out of their sight, Shade let me sit down. The panic had abated and I was no longer gasping for breath, but my mouth was dry and the only things I could drink were my own tears and blood.

He asked, "What happened?" even though he knew I would not answer.

But it was almost as if he was expecting it when I threw my arms around him and let all the tears I had been holding in for the past ten years break loose.

* * *

Meanwhile, the prince's three-dozen servants still snoozed on.

* * *

**Please review.**


	4. Skyfall

**rachealninja10: This was actually kind of a challenge for me, trying to fit so much character development into only four chapters. The "four chapter" bit of it was hard, too…I tried to make it a one-shot, then I tried to make it just three, and then I realized that it wasn't going to fit into three…**

**chocykitty: No, you don't. I'm considering a sequel that does overlap into the second book…but really, I have enough on my plate already with Dear Fanfiction Writers, From Fanfiction Writers, Children of Fear, Legends of Awesomeness, Death's Embrace, and the upcoming sequels to Fighting Fire, Revenge of the Ice Prince, Death's Deception, Joyce's Guardian, Nico and the Crow…not to mention my original series of novels and my homework, which are, unfortunately, first priority.**

**koryandrs and ladybug114: Thank you!**

**I drew more crappy cover art. Blah.**

**The quality of my scanner and the image manage system makes me weep inside.**

* * *

**Disclaimer: Will never own PA. Unless I become Shannon Hale overnight, which probably won't happen.**

**Lyrics from 'Skyfall' by Adele.**

* * *

_Put your hand in my hand_

_And we'll stand_

_Let the sky fall_

_When it crumbles_

_We will stand tall_

* * *

_Face it all together_

* * *

I awoke warm and comfortable for once. Well, relatively comfortable, that is — I could still feel each individual pebble on the ground through the thin fabrics of my clothes — but I was warm, and I recalled falling asleep in the arms of someone who did not push me away. Physical comfort didn't matter in the shadow of that kind of comfort.

Without even opening my eyes, I could tell that the jacket I wore was, once again, not my own. I had fallen asleep against a rock wall and Shade's shoulder and there I was still, there _he _was still. A light touch to the back of my hand convinced me to open my eyes.

"You're awake," he said quietly.

I tried to smile. "Apparently."

Shade's light olive cheeks tinged with a deep scarlet color usually associated with apples, and he coughed awkwardly. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Guess I'm feeling better," I muttered, groaning as I stretched out my legs. "My charming sense of humor has come back." My head still hurt, and upon examining it I realized that a certain someone had wrapped a crude bandage around the wound. But the greater annoyance right now was the hunger pangs. "Have anything to eat?"

"No," he replied. "That's why we're going back to Dan."

I felt my heart drop into my empty stomach. "Without the prince?" I knew Dan's type — he'd kill me, and probably Shade too just for the hell of it, if we returned empty-handed.

"They're the closest source of food that I know of, except for the villagers or the academy, and both of those are out. And I have some things to say to Dan before we leave him for good."

"We," I said. "You're leaving with me?"

"Of course," Shade deadpanned. "Why not?"

"Or rather," I asked, "why?"

He said nothing, only looked away, took a deep breath, and shrugged.

* * *

I asked him again on the way back, maybe a half hour into our journey. We were traveling the same road on which we had first argued about our ages.

"Why?" I inquired. "Why 'us'?"

He said nothing, didn't even look at me or even slow his pace, so I decided to add to it.

"Why me at all?"

He did not reply. I feared that he was just ignoring me, or that he didn't want to talk, but after a long time of silence, he stopped, sat down against a rock, bowed his head, and spoke.

"I had a sister."

I blinked. I had not expected that.

"Her name was Marita," he continued in a soft, almost rueful voice. "I was ten, she was almost six. She always wore her hair in two brown braids, tied with pink ribbons. She had a favorite dress that she wore almost every day — it was lacy and white and had pink roses all along the hem."

His voice was barely a whisper as he said the next words:

"She was wearing that dress when I killed her."

My mouth fell open, but no words came out.

Shade looked up but not at me, his eyes rimmed in red. "We were rich. My father was Vittorio Laterza, a captain in the Toscan army. He trained me with a sword since before I could read. I took my sword everywhere with me. It was small and silver, and it was my own." I could almost hear the accent of his childhood growing stronger as he spoke.

"Mari and I, we were adventurous children. One day, a week before her sixth birthday, we were playing in the garden when wandered away from the house and got lost in the woods. Then she wandered off from me, and I couldn't find her or my way back. The sun started to go down, and I became scared. I jumped at every noise and swung my sword at anything that moved. So when Marita came running up behind me, wailing and crying, I…I was so scared that I didn't think right, and I did what Father taught me.

"They found me and her eventually, but no one was ever the same. Mama refused to eat or drink and eventually just gave up the will to live, and Father pushed me away. He hated me for what I had done and made it known to everyone, _everyone, _that Dante was a murderer and couldn't be trusted. And I hated myself, because every time I heard those words I thought of Marita's eyes as she took her last breaths, all that trust I had broken.

"So I hid. I learned how to stay silent, unnoticeable. I only showed my face outside the house at night, when no one was awake. But inside the house, I couldn't hide either. Eventually I couldn't take it anymore, so I took a sword and ran away. I joined Dan's bandits only because I was as far away from home as I could get and couldn't think of anywhere else to hide."

I was silent for a very, very long time. I do not think I could have said anything even if there had been something to say.

"She was my sister, she trusted me, and she was you."

To his surprise, I sighed and sank down beside him. He'd given me such a fragile piece of his shattered heart, and it was all I could do to repay him with a piece of mine.

"I had an older brother, too," I began, still not entirely sure in what I was doing. "His name was William, but everyone called him Will. He looked exactly like the prince. That's how I knew that I would never be able to kidnap him."

My voice was very small, almost like a child's.

"My parents were both Hibernian. My father was a bandit, my mother a pickpocket. When they met, it was like butter and toast, and they couldn't help but fall in love. My mother's betrothal ring was stolen right off the duchess O'Carrick's finger."

A small smile quirked at the left corner of Shade's lips.

"I'm serious," I said. "They were a wonderful team. When they had Will and me, they brought us up and trained us as thieves. And we were good at it, too. We'd go on 'family missions' together — I was a cute little kid, so I'd be the distraction while Will, Mother, and Father went ahead and stole anything they wanted.

"Then, one day, we were in the capital city of Rilamark and my parents wanted to teach me how to steal from above, as we called it. I was nine at the time, and Will was twelve. They removed a few roof tiles and lowered Will down on a rope, and he grabbed the crown without being seen. But it was afterwards, when we were trying to get down, that it got bad. Father slipped and fell, and Mother and Will were only able to grab him and the rope. I managed to grab the other end, but I was the only one on the roof and…only a girl, I couldn't hold them up…"

My breath hitched in my throat.

"I let them go, and…that was it."

My vision blurred with tears. It was hard for me to hear even my own voice now.

"So I just bore the past and pushed on. And then…you came, I saw Will and Mother and Father, and the past took over."

It felt good to let down my burdens for the first time.

"That's why."

It was obvious that Shade had been trying to avoid acknowledging this topic_. _His abysmal eyes filled with something unexplainable, and he looked at his hands to hide it from me.

"That's why," he repeated quietly.

And so there we sat for a very long time, the girl with the eyes of a wolf and the boy made of shadows and shards of ice.

No longer alone.

* * *

Two gaunt, bedraggled figures entered the abandoned mine shaft that served as a bandit group's hideaway, escorted by two burly bandit guards. One of the two figures, the small, short-haired girl, was being nearly carried by the older and taller one.

Dan stormed up to us, eyes searching for a prince but instead finding two defeated thieves. "What happened?" he bellowed. "Where's the prince?"

I lifted my head. "At the academy," I dared to reply. "We couldn't get him. Too many guards. It was a miracle we survived ourselves."

"WHAT — "

"Dan," Shade interrupted. "We don't have time. She struck her head on a rock when she fell. We need water, bandages, and food."

Dan was frozen in shock for a few moments, then he yelled at some people to get us water and food, but not bandages, because why in the world would bandits have clean bandages lying around? Shade let me sit down against the wall, but that was a mistake. It meant that Dan could push Shade aside, kneel, and yank my head up so that I could look at him as he spat.

"Listen, _girl," _he snarled, spraying spittle into my face. "When I tell you to come back with a prince, I mean that you have to _come back with him or not come back at all. _I don't care if you'll be in danger, or won't have enough time to do it subtly, but if you go back to that blasted academy and don't come back with the prince, I will assure you that you will _never _leave this mountain."

"We're never going back to the academy," I said.

Dan's face grew livid and the grip on my hair tightened to a much more painful level. I gasped in pain, but I kept my eyes on his as he spat the next words into my face. "You _will _go back to that academy and get my prince, and I don't care how much you want to back out of it."

"It's not necessarily how much _she _wants to back out of it, so much as it's how much _we _don't want to work for you anymore, Dan."

Dan froze at the voice that sounded like ice, and did not dare move again, lest the silver blade that rested almost casually against the side of his neck break the skin and separate his head from his body. "Shade," he said as calmly as he could manage, which did not hide the quaver in his voice. "You have taken the side of the thief." It wasn't a question.

"Let her go," said Shade, as simply as if he was asking for a drink of water.

Dan released my hair, and I fell backwards. The other bandits were glaring at me and Shade with equal ferocity, their hands on their weapons. But none dared draw them. Shade had the upper hand here. He flashed me a rare smile, and I took this as my cue. I stood up.

"Where's that food you promised?" I called to the other bandits.

Bob, the lanky and empty-headed bandit, was pushed forward. He held a bag in his hands, the bag that they stored all their food in. Hands shaking, he gave it to me. "No water?" I asked, one eyebrow raised.

Someone shoved two canteens full of water into Bob's hands and he also gave these to me, still not meeting my eyes.

I gave him my wolf smile. "Thank you."

He yelped and scrambled back.

With his free hand, Shade grabbed the collar of Dan's tunic and yanked him up to his feet. Slowly, warily, we began to retreat to the entrance of the quarry, Shade's sword still at Dan's throat and our provisions in my hands. It would be more than enough for the journey to the nearest town. However, I wasn't done. I reached over to Dan's belt and deftly untied the bag of gold coins that had been meant for a reward.

"Thank you," I told him with a smile when he glared at me.

"This isn't over," Dan hissed. "I will find you!"

We were out in the sunlight now, free of the mineshaft. The bandits still lurked warily inside, waiting to see what we would do with our hostage. I was kind of hoping that Shade would push him off a cliff or something — I did _not _appreciate being sprayed with spit by a man who probably hadn't brushed his teeth since…_ever_ — but instead, my new ally released Dan's shirt and withdrew his sword. Dan whirled on us, his face twisted with rage.

"Sure," I told him with a smile. It was not a comforting smile.

Dan yelled something incomprehensible and flew at me, fists flailing. Before I could even reach for my dagger, though, someone shoved me backwards and I saw a flash of silver. Dan stumbled and fell to his knees, hands held in front of him. Blood dripped down his hands, borne from two thin, straight slices, one on each wrist, that stretched from the bases of his palms to the middle of his forearms. Not fatal or even deep, but painful. He'd be wearing bandages for a few days.

Shade stood impassively between the bandit and I, sword in hand. Calmly, as if he did this every day, he touched the tip of the blade to Dan's chin and forced him to look up into his eyes.

"Mercy," Dan managed to choke.

Shade was silent for a long time, and when he spoke, his voice was like ice. "You have my mercy today," he said. "But when your time comes, I can tell you this: that whether you beg mercy from the gods or the devils, you will get none."

And then he withdrew his sword and Dan's face lit with relief, until Shade's foot slammed into his chest and sent him flying backwards onto the ground. Shade stepped back slowly, then held his hand out to me. In the hand that did not hold my dagger, I accepted it.

And, with our weapons still drawn, Shade and I walked away from the bandits and down the mountain pass.

* * *

"So what now?" I asked.

We had stopped on a small hill for dinner, underneath a tree and on a ground of hardy mountain grass. From the view, we could see the last remnants of sunlight streaking the darkening sky and, to our right, the faraway princess academy. It was lit bright by torches — tonight was the night of the ball when the prince would meet and choose his future bride, Shade told me. I didn't tell him that I wondered what that would be like, to wear beautiful dresses, to eat a king's feast, to dance with and fall in love with a prince. I cannot say I never envied royals.

But, when I looked at the stale piece of bread in my hand, and at the young man sitting next to me, with his tangled hair and frayed black clothes and the starved face that might have in a different world become noble and proud, I wondered even more. Would I trade places with one of those princesses if I had the chance? Would I replace rags with a dress, stolen bread with a feast, a bandit with a prince?

I decided that I liked it right here.

Shade picked at the stem of his bruised apple and shrugged in reply to my spoken question. "We get off the mountain."

I frowned. "Of course, yeah, we have to get off the mountain. I mean after that. What then?"

He was quiet for a while, then said, "I don't know. What would you do?"

"You mean, if I was alone?"

He nodded.

I hesitated. "Well," I replied, "I would usually get as far away from this country as I could. Maybe I'd steal the queen's bracelet and pay for passage across the Stormwhite Sea, stop off in Teutlandt maybe, but winter's coming and inevitably with it, the winter storms. So I'd linger in Asland until spring, I guess. Then, once the storms were clear, I'd be off again to cause mayhem in a different country."

"Then why not?"

I looked at him, then at my hands. I did not know what to say.

"I mean…" He hesitated, unsure of how to continue. "What we did in the princess academy, we could do more than that, maybe even succeed. Why not?"

I was quiet, and when I spoke again, my voice was low. "I don't know."

"I don't see why not, then."

"Neither do I."

We were both quiet. I imagined I could hear the swells of music from the academy as I gazed up at the wispy clouds and the quickly fading glow of light blue on the furthest horizon. The cool autumn breeze was the air rushing past my face as I danced among the stars.

"Come on," said Shade quietly, standing up and holding his hand out to me. "We have a long way to travel."

I took his hand and stood up, my eyes still on the sky. I looked at the academy on the cliff one last time and thought. Of the would-have-been soldier whose hand I grasped, and of his little sister who would never see her sixth birthday. Of my mother and the glittering betrothal ring, and of my father and his crooked smile and crooked nose. Of the prince who let us go, and of my brother and his beautiful, kind eyes.

"Goodbye, Will," I said.

Bridget D'Arcy and Dante Laterza set off into the night.

* * *

"_We don't have to be defined by the things we did or didn't do in our past. Some people allow themselves to be controlled by regret. Maybe it's a regret, maybe it's not. It's merely something that happened. Get over it."_ — Pittacus Lore

* * *

**And that's all for now, folks!**


End file.
